Prison Sentencing
Prison sentences are too soft in New Zealand to the criminals who commit serious crimes and need to be harsher. In New Zealand criminals who commit serious crimes are handed a prison sentence. I strongly oppose the sentencing of criminals currently. I believe justice should be served more harshly. Presently the New Zealand court system is too soft on criminals who commit serious crimes. In 2012, there was approximately 376,000 recorded offences. This resulted in 196,000 convictions. That’s just above 50%. The recorded offence is filed and the person is free to leave, this high number of convictions, suggests prison sentences are not long enough to combat high offending rates. This results in high recidivism rates In New Zealand many
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This is evident when looking at Murder and Manslaughter charges. Murder is defined as “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another” .Murder is often done in cold blood. Using forceful actions to pursue the victim’s demise. In comparison, Manslaughter is defined as “the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought or in circumstances not amounting to murder”. Manslaughter does not result in murder. There has been much debate over the death of “Moko”, a young child. He was brutally beaten over the period of two months. The offenders repeatedly kicked, threw, and stomped on him. This is manslaughter as the offenders did not kill him, but due to his injuries; he died as a result. There are clear links between his abuse and the death of the child. The guardians did not directly kill him, as a result they got convicted with Manslaughter. Being so young he was unable to seek help himself; consequently, he later died due to the inflicted injuries. This is cruel. The offenders had the intent to harm; this leads to the death of a defenseless and fragile child. .Moko’s offenders, in this case, had 2 months to stop the torture, however, they did not. Their lack of remorse suggests he would have been continually tortured, if intervention did not occur. He most likely would die later. The grey area between Manslaughter and Murder sentences is evident. When Moko's offenders were sentenced, protests occurred, the primary topic was the assailant’s getting Manslaughter conviction’s; opposed to Murder. Manslaughter in fact, is as bad physically and morally as murder. In New Zealand, a different approach to the sentencing of manslaughter needs to be taken. This is in regards to the intention of the offender and actions taken to attribute the victim, rather than the outcome. We would see significantly larger sentences for criminals. Opponents to this
This is evident when looking at Murder and Manslaughter charges. Murder is defined as “the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another” .Murder is often done in cold blood. Using forceful actions to pursue the victim’s demise. In comparison, Manslaughter is defined as “the crime of killing a human being without malice aforethought or in circumstances not amounting to murder”. Manslaughter does not result in murder. There has been much debate over the death of “Moko”, a young child. He was brutally beaten over the period of two months. The offenders repeatedly kicked, threw, and stomped on him. This is manslaughter as the offenders did not kill him, but due to his injuries; he died as a result. There are clear links between his abuse and the death of the child. The guardians did not directly kill him, as a result they got convicted with Manslaughter. Being so young he was unable to seek help himself; consequently, he later died due to the inflicted injuries. This is cruel. The offenders had the intent to harm; this leads to the death of a defenseless and fragile child. .Moko’s offenders, in this case, had 2 months to stop the torture, however, they did not. Their lack of remorse suggests he would have been continually tortured, if intervention did not occur. He most likely would die later. The grey area between Manslaughter and Murder sentences is evident. When Moko's offenders were sentenced, protests occurred, the primary topic was the assailant’s getting Manslaughter conviction’s; opposed to Murder. Manslaughter in fact, is as bad physically and morally as murder. In New Zealand, a different approach to the sentencing of manslaughter needs to be taken. This is in regards to the intention of the offender and actions taken to attribute the victim, rather than the outcome. We would see significantly larger sentences for criminals. Opponents to this